The Government of Ontario has recently launched a review of legislation guiding municipal elections, and will soon allow municipalities to switch from our current first-past-the-post electoral system to Ranked Choice Voting. However, the province wants YOUR thoughts on the upcoming changes to the Municipal Elections Act. Your voice is important! Ottawa123, in partnership with City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) and the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres of Ottawa is pleased to host a public consultation on changes to Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act on July 16. We’re inviting all residents of Ottawa to have their voices heard on upcoming changes to the province’s Municipal Elections Act. We will have opening remarks from city councillors and a short presentation by a representative from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. We will then break out into small discussion groups which will include, but not be limited to: Ranked Choice Voting / Ranked Ballots Campaign Finance Rules the Candidate Nomination Process Enforcement of Election Rules Third Party Advertising Accessibility Your feedback at the consultation will be used to generate a consolidated submission including recommendations to the Government of Ottawa as they conduct their review of the legislation. We hope this process will ensure that a broad range of citizens voices are heard. Join our Facebook event **Refreshments will be served** Can’t come? You can submit your own feedback to the province here. Ottawa123 is a non-partisan, volunteer-led organization which advocates for Ranked Choice Voting for the City of Ottawa. Click here to find out why Ranked Choice Voting works. You can follow us on Twitter and like us on...

Colum Grove-White, writes for Samara’s Blog As voting reform activists, the biggest problem we face is getting our message out in a celebrity-and-disaster-driven news cycle. Electoral reform is one of the most critical imperatives confronting us, but if you’re already reading this, chances are I’m preaching to the choir. Like climate change, aging populations, and global governance–all pivotal issues–the case for voting reform doesn’t translate to an obvious, compelling storyline. We won’t die of first-past-the-post elections. We won’t discover the cure for ebola through proportional representation. We won’t stop ISIS with ranked ballots. While most Canadians understand the mechanics of how we vote, the impact of the first-past-the-post system on our democratic fabric seems abstract and irrelevant. Expecting Canadians to wake up tomorrow preoccupied with electoral reform is about as likely as hearing Putin has won a Nobel Peace Prize; as democratic activists we know we’ve got to think outside the box for more effective ways to get people interested. At Ottawa123, we’re trying to find better ways of getting people excited about municipal voting reform. Ottawa123 is the Ranked Choice Voting Initiative of the City of Ottawa, just one of the various, non-partisan 1-2-3 movements springing up across Ontario, calling for cities to ditch our first-past-the-post system in favour of ranked ballots to make our elections more fair and friendly. And while there are no buckets of ice on our Ottawa123 agenda, we’re aiming to making voting reform as easy as 1-2-3. Critics of voting reform argue it’s just too complicated for the average voter–one of the many factors that torpedoed voting reform referenda in Ontario and British...

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